Followed
by HopeCoppice
Summary: In which Bertrand is an ever-present shadow, and Vlad needs to work on his vampire skills. Slash.


**Have some random fluff. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Not miiiiine.**

Vlad was getting used to pretending not to notice Bertrand at the edge of his peripheral vision. Leaning against lockers, wandering along corridors, even occasionally sitting outside his room. When he woke up to find Bertrand staring down at his coffin as it opened one morning, however, he realised it clearly wouldn't be healthy to continue ignoring the problem.

"Bertrand. What the hell are you doing?" His tutor jumped, glancing guiltily between Vlad and the door.  
"I must have got lost in my thoughts. I'll let you get ready for school." He'd barely stood up, however, before his escape was cut off by Vlad's 'Chosen One' voice.  
"You're not going anywhere. Tell me why you've been watching me for the last few days. Why are you always there?"

Bertrand sighed.  
"We received a warning from the Slayer's Guild, three days ago. One of their top agents has gone rogue, he refused to agree to the truce and they thought he might come here. The school's security is at the highest level it can be, but I thought it was better to be safe than sorry." Vlad blinked at him and he hurried to continue. "Your father didn't want to worry you about it."

"A rogue slayer." His voice sounded flat, even to his own ears. "That's... that's why you've been following me?" Bertrand nodded. "Oh." His tutor frowned at him as he climbed out of his coffin and began searching for the ever-elusive school tie.

"You sound almost disappointed. Should there be another reason for me to follow you?" Vlad shook his head.  
"No. D'you mind? I need to change." The older vampire let himself out.

Vlad couldn't help but turn the conversation over in his mind as he was tailed to class; he _had_ sounded disappointed. That was ridiculous. Why would he want Bertrand to be following him? Admittedly, he'd sort of assumed that the older vampire must have some kind of crush on him, which of course would have been highly creepy and perverted given the age difference and that Bertrand was his _tutor_. Still, since Erin had left, he'd been pretty lonely and it would have been nice to feel... admired, attractive, just for once. None of the girls at school seemed inclined to look twice at him and, no matter whether he could see Bertrand in that light or not, it would have been a confidence boost, he thought as he took a seat.

Still, that was no reason to sound quite so let down when the true reason behind Bertrand's attention was revealed. He began to wonder if he'd been entirely honest with himself about his feelings. Yes, Bertrand was about twenty times his age, but for a vampire, that wasn't actually as bad as it sounded. He was his tutor, which was all kinds of wrong, but Vlad was technically his boss and not the other way around, so the balance of power wasn't actually as skewed as one would assume. And it wasn't as if Bertrand was unattractive; indeed, he was good-looking, charming when he wanted to be, and fiercely intelligent. Add to that his loyalty and determination to make sure Vlad succeeded and, well, the Chosen One could see plenty of potential to turn heads. Of course, that was irrelevant, because Vlad wasn't interested in guys.

Well, he hadn't been interested in guys for a long time now. It had been years since he'd said goodbye to Robin – not that anything had ever come of that – and since then he'd gone back to pursuing girls instead. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the male form, or even that he wasn't attracted to Bertrand; there had certainly been occasions, after particularly intense training sessions, when he had had to leave the room in a hurry. It was just that he didn't need anything else to stress out about. He didn't need to have a crush on his tutor. Even in his head it sounded like a cliché from one of those bad teenage films Ingrid used to make fun of.

Ingrid couldn't mock what she didn't know, though, and he was prepared to admit, inside the quiet privacy of his own mind, that he'd had one too many fantasies about being pushed up against the wall of the training room and snogged to within an inch of his unlife to dismiss it as simply teenage hormones playing up.

He became aware of the sniggering in the classroom as his teacher sighed loudly.  
"In your own time, Vlad." The equation was ridiculously simple and he spluttered the answer, simply relieved that he hadn't - as he had briefly suspected – voiced his thoughts out loud. The laughter died down and the lesson moved on.

Bertrand was waiting outside to escort him between classes, apparently deep in thought; Vlad wasn't even surprised to see him anymore. Given the slayer threat, it made perfect sense. At the end of the day, his tutor left him at the door of his coffin room in pensive silence. Obviously the rogue slayer was preying on his mind more than his charge had realised.

For the next few days, Bertrand continued to be a constant but almost completely silent presence at Vlad's side, until on Friday afternoon he finally broke out of his thoughts to inform his student that they would be training that evening after school. Vlad duly parted from him at his own coffin room door, got changed and headed back down towards the training room. He took a moment to look around; it had been nearly a week since he was last in here. Bertrand was extremely possessive of the space, and the Chosen One realised with a start that he didn't know where the older vampire slept. If it was in here, his territorial habits certainly made sense. Certainly this was the only room that Ingrid endeavoured not to be caught trespassing in, and even the Count gave it a wide berth.

Bertrand was standing in the middle of the room, facing away from the door, but Vlad had no doubt that his tutor was aware of his presence. Sure enough, he spoke without turning.  
"Have you shut the door? I don't want to have to deal with interruptions." The younger vampire duly pushed the door closed behind him and ventured further into the room. His tutor didn't move, apparently deep in thought again.

After a few minutes, the teenager sighed and walked round to stand in front of his tutor, whose gaze was fixed on the floor.  
"So, what do you want me to work on today?" The older vampire's head snapped up and suddenly Vlad found himself propelled backwards, trapped between his tutor's body and the wall behind him. It was like falling into one of his dirty daydreams, but the Chosen One was almost entirely certain that this was real. Bertrand met his eyes for one searching look and then his lips were crushed against Vlad's.

Vlad's mind went blank for a few seconds that would have stopped his heart if it had been beating in the first place, and then he was kissing back as if his unlife depended on it. Bertrand's tongue swept across his lips and he opened his mouth, allowing him access and beginning a brief battle for dominance. In the end, Vlad was content to surrender to Bertrand's attentions; the older vampire had him _pinned to a wall_, so it wasn't as if either of them didn't know who was in control right now. At least, it seemed that way to Vlad until he moved his head back by a fraction of an inch and Bertrand immediately pulled away, mercifully giving him a little space to pull his thoughts together.

After a moment of tense silence, bodies still pressed together, Vlad's back to the wall, Bertrand spoke.  
"You need to work on your telepathy." The younger vampire raised an eyebrow.  
"Not surprise attacks?" His tutor stepped back suddenly and Vlad had to hold on to the cold stone for a moment to find his balance.  
"I'm sorry. This was inappropriate. I didn't mean to... _attack_ you." Vlad reached out and grabbed him, pulling him towards him again.  
"That's not what I meant. But... telepathy?" Bertrand made a low growling noise in the back of his throat as Vlad reached up to claim his lips again, a brief chaste kiss this time.  
"When you thought I was stalking you. I heard everything."

Vlad took a moment to consider the implications of this.  
"Is that why you were so quiet?" Bertrand nodded. "You heard me in Maths?" His tutor nodded again; he'd been waiting outside the door, keeping guard in case that slayer turned up. The slayer in question had in fact been recaptured only the next day, but he could tell Vlad that later. He watched his protégé's eyes darken with lust as he tangled a pale hand in Bertrand's curls. "Then you know I don't want you to stop."

How could he resist that?


End file.
